During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many French
Canadians from Quebec migrated to
nearby New England and New York.
Most of the migrants were farm families
who came to work in the mills and other growing industries across the border. They
generally traveled from Quebec
down Lake Champlain to Whitehall,
then down the Hudson River. Families often settled together in
close-knit communities, thereby preserving their language and culture through their
Catholic churches, schools, and newspapers. These "little Canada's"
could be found in many cities throughout upstate New York,
including Plattsburg, Ogdensburg, FortEdward, Cohoes,
Waterford, Watervliet,
and Troy.

This article will
explore 9 French Canadian families in Troy's tenth ward from the 1860's to the
early 1900's: Surprenant (Surprise), Demers, Gamache, Lamadeleine, Dupuis,
Morin (Murray), Lachapelle, Chevalier, and Lefebvre .
Research began with an in-depth look at the tenth ward census records. Family
relationships were also discovered through the published Catholic church
records of St. Jean Baptiste, St.
Joseph's, and St. Mary's in Troy (available at Troy
Public Library), plus obituaries, death certificates, newspapers (especially
www.fultonhistory.com), and a large probate file for Demers.

French Canadian Names

French Canadian names can be a challenge for genealogists
for the following reasons:

1.There
were many spelling variations of names, sometimes caused byrecord keepers unfamiliar with French
surnames.

2.First
names were also unfamiliar, such as Narcisse, Octave,
Baptiste, Telesphore, Treffle, and Onesime.

3.Translations
of names (example: Surprenant = Surprise).

4.Use
of dit names (call names) and nicknames. Dit names originated in the military and were used in Canada
to differentiate families. Many used one name for church records and another
for civil records.

Brick makers and
Others in Troy's Tenth Ward:

Many of the French Canadians in the tenth ward were brick makers
working at Alexander Ferguson's brickyard, from the 1860's to early 1900's. Ferguson
"transformed the clay hills of Mt.Ida and those on Hoosick
street into good
merchantable brick, that entered largely into the construction of the public
and private buildings of Troy".[1] There
was a 40 foot high clay bank that ran east to west along Hoosick St.[2] In
1892 there were plans for a new brick plant on Ferguson's
property, and 15th St. was
extended at that time.[3]
Alexander died in 1909 and the business was sold to Cary Brick Co. Most of these families did not own property,
as a search of RensselaerCounty
deeds through 1895 found only the Demers name from this study.

Many families took in French Canadian boarders, many of whom
were probably relatives. Notice the many inter relationships among these
families.

Henry Surprise (~1835
- >1877) [the name Surprise is a trranslation of the French Surprenant. It can appear in records both ways]

1877:
Troy Times - the family of
Edward Surprise, the lad who was shot through the hand on 10th St. last
Sunday is said to be in destitute circumstances. They reside on Sausse St. The father is in an insane asylum and the
mother is also ill. Edward has no one to minister to his wants except a
little brother[4]

1899:
Mrs. Elizabeth Surprise died 17 November. Funeral from residence on South
St., and St. Jean Baptiste
church. She was age 56 and had been ill for some time, resided in the city
all her life [obvious error][5]

1861:
John Demers purchased land on Oakwood Ave.
from John & Ann Archibald for $3400. John Demers bought more land in
1865-1867. He & wife Onesime sold land in
1861, 1863, 1866 around Oakwood Ave. & SausseSt. He also bought land in 1875 from Maxime & Odile Gilbert
in W. Troy, Albany Co. and sold it to Odile Cary
in 1891[7].

1887,
Troy Times: John Demers charged
with stealing a watch from residence of Odille
Cary in 4th ward, pleaded guilty[9]

1900:
John died
1 March (28 Feb in probate file)on Sausse St. after a long illness, almost 80 years old. He was a
brick manufacturer for 40 years, came from Canada 50 years ago[10]

1900:
Probate file - Letters of Administration, dated 9 March 1900. Administrators were William
Lord and Joseph Lefebvre. The estate appraisal listed Eugenie Demers Drouin the natural (but adopted) daughter of John Demers
& PhilomeneCorbee.
Eugenie was born in 1861 and an agreement was made with the mother through
Odile Carey that the child would be surrendered
to John Demers and that she would inherit his property upon his death. In
1900, the Rensselaer Co. Supreme Court adjudged that she was entitled to
the funds. However, the estate was in litigation for several years. The
following were named persons interested in the estate (many were nieces
& nephews): Eugenie Demers Drouin (daughter,
c/o Drouin & Drouin,
Montreal); Matilda Houle (sister age 76, St. Athanase Quebec); children of deceased sister Emelie Lefebvre -- Pierre Lefebvre (age 54, Cohoes),
Emily Gagne (age 52, Cohoes), Eugenie DeLisle
(age 46, Cohoes), Alaric Lefebvre (age 37, Cohoes), Napoleon Lefebvre (age
50, Troy), Joseph Lefebvre (age 43, Troy), Azilda
Lefebvre (age 48, Lachine, Quebec); children of deceased sister Rosalie Rouillier -- Rosalie Roman (age 48, St. Athanase, Quebec), FridolinBonneau (age 46, St. Phillippe,
Quebec), Azilda Dupuis (age 44, St. Luc, Quebec),
NoeRouillier (age 40,
St. Phillippe, Quebec), Appolonia
Tremblay (age 38, Laprairie, Quebec), MelaniseHoule (age 36, St. Alexandre, Quebec), Phillipe
E. Rouillier (age 35, Montreal), FridolinRouillier (age 30,
St. Phillippe, Quebec. Later in the file she is
listed at Lathrop, Missoula, Montana);
LucreceRouillier (age
25, Troy). Also listed was
Albert Demers (brother age 78, St. Patrick, Sherrington, Quebec).
Albert assigned his right to the estate to his son Albert Jr., signed with
his X mark 17 March 1900.
Albert died at St. Patrick, Sherrington,
Quebec27 May 1921, age 79, husband of EleonoreVendal, sons were Joseph and Albert.[11]

1900:
Supreme Court in Rensselaer. Co.
- partition of John Demer's lands. Many lots of
land in the 10th ward, some in the 6th ward; the sand bank lot in Brunswick,
plus lots in Grafton and West Troy[12]

1857,
Henryville, Quebec,
Canada: J.B. Gamache married EmelieRoireauLaliberte on 23
March. His parents: Marcel Gamache & Celeste
Boucher.[14]Henryville is in Haut-Richelieu area of Quebec,
37 miles from Montreal

1924:
Edmund
died 5 April, age 81, buried St. Mary's Cemetery. Obituary from
Troy Times - Edmund LaMadeline died at the Home for the Aged,
member of St. Jean Baptiste. Survivors: Mrs. ZoeGarceau of Canada
and 4 brothers of N. Adams, MA - Joseph, Alfred, Wilfred and Lucien.[18]

1910:
Treffle Jr. died on 28 May at home, 30
Sausse St. Survived
by parents, brothers Joseph and Raymond, and sister Mrs. John Kelly;
attended St. Jean Baptiste church[24]

1911:Treffle Sr. died on
14 March, at 30 Sausse
St., born in Canada
60 years ago, survived by wife, sons Joseph and Raymond Lachapelle, and daughter Mrs. John Kelly[25]
Death Certificate states age 60, brick maker, father is Colur? LaChapelle[26]

Louis Chevalier
(~1830->1885)

1854:
Louis Chevalier married Rose DelimaLarin, by Rev. Turcotte at St.
Jean Baptiste church[27];
also listed at St. Joseph's: Louis Chevalier to Rose Lorin
12 Aug 1855, wit: Francis Delorme, FabianeVinet. They had 12 children - the first 6 children
were baptized at St. Joseph's from 1856-1867; the
next 6 baptized at St. Jean Baptiste from
1869-1879. Some must have died young as 12 children do not appear in the
census.

[2]Documents of the Senate of the State of New
York, vol. 15 (on google books.com). Also
seeHeinrich Ries,
Clays of New York, their Properties and Uses, (Albany,
NY: State Univ. of New York, 1900) p. 707

[3]Troy Times, 7 December 1892 [viewed at www.fultonhistory.com, no page listed; film
missing at Troy Library]

[10]
John Demers obituary, Troy Times, 1
March 1900;funeral 6 March from Sausse St. and St. Jean Baptiste
church where he was trustee and treasurer, Troy
Times 6 March 1900; Auction sale of real estate on 27 April - 55 lots on
Hoosick St., also Oakwood Ave.,
brickyard plant and property, 6 houses inTroy, 1 in Cohoes etc., Troy Times,
17 April 1901

[11]
Probate file of John Demers, Rensselaer Co. Historical Society, 3 large folders
dated 1900-1902. Also of interest are accounts: $50 paid to TriffellLachapelle for labor; $26 to Henry Surprise; $15 to
Edward Surprise; $460 to Emelie Gagne; $119 to
Napoleon Lefebvre (John's employee since 1889); $4,793 to Margaret Drouin - housekeeper; $44 to Alexander Ferguson. Treffle, Napoleon, and Edward signed the receipt with their
X mark [i.e., could not write]. There were also mortgages against many people,
including Alfred Vinette ($566), Henry Surprise &
wife ($2,485), and John Murray ($10,000). [John's brother Albert appears in the
1861 census of Iberville, Quebec: Albert 40, Eleonore
Vandal 40, Alphonsine 15, Malvina
14, Zoe 11, Marie 8, Joseph 6, Medard
2; they are in Sherrington in 1891, 1901 census]
[Eugenie DeLisle 46 is in 1900 census of Cohoes
with husband Onesime 49 carpenter immigr.
1899, Arthur 17, Ernest 14. None of the others mentioned as living in Cohoes
were found in 1900 census]

[21]
Obituary of Paul Duprey, Troy Times, 22 June 1904,
pg. 6: Paul Duprey died at home, 574
6th St., age 83, born in Canada,
resided in Troy 43 yrs., retired from Isengart Brewing Co. a year ago, member of St. Jean Baptiste church; survivors: 3 sons Dennis and John H. of
Troy, Joseph of Schaghticoke